This invention relates generally to firearms and more particularly to holders or clamps used to secure flashlights or other accessories to the firearm.
Flashlights and laser aiming mechanisms are often secured to a firearm to assist in low light environments and to provide pin-point sighting of the weapon. Often these devices are affixed to a mounting rail for easy attachment and detachment of the flashlight. Such rails are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,975,419, entitled “Mounting Rail” issued Jul. 12, 2011, to Darian; U.S. Pat. No. 7,870,689, entitled “Mount for Firearms” issued Jan. 18, 2011, to Dextraze; and, U.S. Pat. No. 7,954,971, entitled “Offset Mountable Light Accessory” issued to Kincaid et al. on Jun. 7, 2011; all of which are incorporated hereinto by reference.
These rail mechanisms allow a variety of different apparatus to be easily attached to the firearm such as handgrips as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,841,120, entitled “Hand Grip Apparatus for Firearm” issued Nov. 30, 2010, to Teetzel et al., incorporated hereinto by reference.
In the situation where a flashlight is secured to the firearm, the barrel shaped grip of the flashlight is secured into a clamping mechanism after the mount has been secured to the firearm. This is a two-step process; (1) secure the mount to the firearm; then, (2) secure the flashlight to the mount via the clamp. Alternatively, the flashlight is semi-permanently attached to the clamping mechanism and then the clamping mechanism is secure to the firearm. Obviously this is time consuming and cumbersome. In similar fashion, removal of the flashlight typically requires the second step of removing the mounting mechanism from the rail as well.
Another problem encountered with the existing flashlight clamping mechanisms is that the clamp is typically engineered for a single sized diameter flashlight. Even small adjustments to the barrel's diameter requires a whole new clamping mechanism which is both costly and confusing as a user may be required to have several mounting clamps, each adapted to fit differing flashlights.
It is clear there is a need for an improved flashlight holder attachable to firearms.